doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Stevens 600

Anybody know anything about this Stevens?

I think it's a Bisley model, only a few made, Brit action, there was a discussion on one of the other websites recently. One sold at auction a couple weeks ago for 1050, a steal IMO.

I was one of the participants in the discussion on the other website. Stevens apparently made 10 of these No.600 rifles in 1910, in an attempt to enter the British market. To me, the question is (1) Is this a "real" Stevens, made in the US with an imported, probably BSA, action? Or (2) is this a rifle made in England (as a result of a contract with Stevens) & fitted with an imported Stevens barrel? Again, to me, if it is a "real" Stevens, then it has a substantial collector value. If it is another early British Martini smallbore rifle but with a Stevens barrel, it loses a great deal of appeal. But 1050 is a steal in either case.

What would the early US smallbore target rifle market have been like had Stevens decided to market the No.600 (as an American-made rifle, sold without the tariff added to the price) instead of or in addition to the 404 (rather rare) and the 414 (relatively common)? Would Stevens have held a large share of the market during the 1920s? Would Winchester have brought out the 52 in 1919?

Are these photos of the rifle in the auction? Or is there a second Stevens No.600 that has surfaced?

This is not the rifle sold at auction.

That is not a BSA Action. It is a full size action.

The action is marked Stevens---Roll Stamped and not engraved as was the practice at the time in Britain when complete guns were bought for retail sales. I don't think Stevens made the action, but had them made premarked when they bought them. That also was a standard trade practice when a the company assembled the guns.

This rifle also does not meet the description of the 600 in that it has a full round barrel not half octagon. Octagons barrels were not popular in Britain, being normally found on cheaper rifles.

The photographic evidence posted here & on the other website says round barrels. Only the Stevens catalog says half-round barrels. My copy of the appropriate Grant volume is out on loan. Does his photo of a 600 show a half-round barrel?

Grant says the example he reviewe was Half round Half octagon. The pictures in his book shows half round half octagon. The picture in Grants is identical to this rifle other than the half round half octagon.

According to Grant there is supposed to be an article on this rifle in the February 1969 issue of Guns Magazine. The information coming from Kingsley Karnopp who stated that he was told by O.M. "Jack" Knode about these rifles.

Grant also says that in a letter Dated December 6, 1961 from Roe S. Clark Jr, of the R&D Depart. of Savage Arms Corporation there is one of these guns in the Factory collection

What does that do to the value & collectability of the rifle in the photo?

I sure don't know since my interest lies only with Martini aspect and I don't collect Stevens. I'm sure it affects it and it serves to add to legitimacy.